NZ dollar touches new five-month low as US sheds more jobs

The New Zealand dollar touched a new five-month low of 68.17 US cents after weak domestic labour market and retail sales data late last week and weekend data showed the US unexpectedly shed jobs last month.

Non-farm payrolls data in the US showed another 20,000 Americans lost their jobs in January, compared to the 15,000 gain forecast, sapping investors' appetite for higher yields and pushed the kiwi dollar to a new low.

Technology stocks on Wall Street helped the Standard & Poor's 500 index rise 0.3 per cent on Friday, paring some of the losses, though concerns remain about the US recovery.

Markets are nervous about the ongoing fiscal woes in Europe, though European Union officials tried to assure finance ministers of the Group of Seven nations that Greece's plan to slash its budget deficits will do enough to avoid a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

"Global sentiment is a little flat, but the reaction we've seen was overdone" to the European fiscal concerns, said Danica Hampton, currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand.

"The kiwi's fallen 3 per cent in the last five days, and if we see some stability, we could see it press higher as it's come down very quickly."

The kiwi edged up to 68.80 US cents from 68.67 cents on Friday in New York, and gained to 63.99 on the trade-weighted index of five trading partners' currencies, from 63.91.

It was little changed at 61.55 yen from 61.57 yen on Friday, and dropped to 79.15 Australian cents from 79.46 cents.

It was little changed at 50.18 euro cents from 50.14 cents last week, and rose to 43.91 pence from 43.76 pence.

Hampton said the currency may trade between 68.40 US cents and 69.50 cents today, and will likely trade in familiar ranges.

In an interview on TV One's Q + A programme, Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said the currency was probably over-valued at 70 cents, though he said he didn't think New Zealand had "done too badly out of that."